and for the first time the busy city looked gray. It looked drab
and dirty and he thought longingly of the desert with its miles and
miles of clean sand. He thought of his mine and how he had fought for
it, and of all his friends in the straggling town; of Old Juan and L.
W. and hearty Old Hassayamp with his laugh and his Texas yupe. And of
Mary Fortune, the typist, as he had known her at first--but now she was
sending letters like this:

"DEAR SIR:

You are hereby notified that the regular Annual Meeting of the
Stockholders of the Tecolote Mining Company will be held at the offices
of the Company, in the Tecolote Hotel," etc., etc.

Rimrock threw down the letter and cursed himself heartily for a fool, a
chump and a blackguard. With a girl like that, and standing all she
had from him, to lose her over Mrs. Hardesty! Who was Mrs. Hardesty?
And why had she gone to Gunsight and fetched him back to New York? Was
it because he was crazy that he had the idea that she was an agent,
somehow, of Stoddard? That two thousand shares of Tecolote stock that
she had assured him Stoddard had sold her, wasn't it part of their
scheme to lure him away and break up his friendship with Mary? Because
if Mrs. Hardesty had it she had never produced it, and there was no
record of the transfer on the books. Rimrock brought down his fist and
swore a great oath never to see the woman again. From the day he met
her his troubles had begun--and now she claimed she loved him!

Rimrock curled his lip at the very thought of any New York woman in
love. There was only one woman who knew what the word meant and she
was in Gunsight, Arizona. He picked up her letter and scanned it
again, but his eyes had not learned to look for love. Even the driest
formula, sent from one to another, may spell out that magic word; may
spell it unconsciously and against the will, if the heart but rules the
hand. Mary Fortune had told him in that briefest of messages that she
was back in Gunsight again; and furthermore, if he wished to see her,
he could do so in thirty days. It told him, in fact, that while their
personal relations had been terminated by his own unconsidered acts; as
fellow stockholders, perhaps even as partners, they might meet and work
together again. But Rimrock was dense, his keen eyes could not see it,
nor his torn heart find the peace that he sought. Like a wounded
animal he turned on his enemy and fought Stoddard to keep down th